Environment

Instead of selling off NHS land, the Government should create a People’s Land Bank, and use the land to build genuinely affordable homes The Government’s sale of NHS land is failing to produce affordable homes and is exacerbating the affordability crisis across the UK, according to new research from the New Economics Foundation. The research involved a comprehensive analysis of the 59 NHS sites that have been sold so far under the Government’s public land sale programme. It finds that,...

Some of the lowest CO2 emitting countries in the world are the least likely to survive a climate change apocalypse – thanks to their fuel guzzling neighbours. New research has revealed countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the most vulnerable to the perils of a potential environmental disaster despite emitting some of the lowest CO2 levels in the World. China emerged as the biggest carbon criminal emitting a mammoth 9,040 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year – nearly...

Scottish Parliament bosses have been urged to rethink spending £80,000 on using birds of prey to scare away pigeons after their effectiveness was called into question. Hawks and falcons are brought in regularly to fly over the Scottish Parliament building to deter pigeons from making it their home. But MSPs say that the unwanted birds have gotten wise to the scheme and simply wait for them to be taken away by their handler before settling back on the roofs and...

As the hosing crisis deepens with homelessness on the rise, especially in the capital, and other major cities, is has been revealed that over 11,000 dwellings in the UK have stood empty for over a decade. The research, carried out by the Lib Dems, used figures gather from 276 local councils also showed that over 216,000 homes have sat empty for over six months. There have been accusations that some of the wealthiest parts of the UK, in West London...

With barely hours left until the end of the year, Donald Trump may have just tweeted his dumbest tweet of the year yet. There have been quite a few contenders this year, especially this tweet incriminating himself. But the climate sceptic President hell-bent on removing science from government departments as well as removing the USA from the crucial Paris climate change agreement that every other country signed up to against all odds, turned to the topic of global warming with...

A single mum has been left suicidal and fearing for her children's lives after getting 'trapped' living in a mouldy, slug-infested house for almost SEVEN YEARS. Jessica Sparrow-Lewis, 29, has endured years of misery in her rented home which is filled with damp, black mould and exposed wiring that has been deemed a "risk to life". One of the rooms is so cold it is practically uninhabitable, with Jessica's children Freya, nine, Alfie, six, and Arlo, one, are sharing one...

Lighting up the night sky with greens and reds, these are the spectacular aurora by a photographer in the world's northern regions. These amazing pictures of the northern lights were taken by astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado in Greenland, Iceland and Finland. He said: "Auroras are one of the most spectacular natural phenomena that can be seen. Bursting with colour in the night, these aren't fireworks but aurora lighting up the northern skies. "They are global spectacles, in the sense that...

Being exposed to short term spikes in air pollution even below legal limits leads to an early grave for the elderly, a study warned. When levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone were higher on a particular day, it leads to more deaths two days later. And the risk of a premature death was 25 per cent greater for elderly poor white and minority women than those who were male or white. Previous studies found evidence that short-term exposures...

A charity has received a generous gift this festive period of £4 million from a mystery donor for the homeless across the West Midlands. The anonymous benefactor has stunned staff at the Heart of England Community Foundation with the Christmas donation. The foundation has said it will use £3 million of it to fund major intiatives to help those sleeping rough and without homes in the New Year. The final £1 million will be invested to guarantee a legacy for...